Sara Pineda  ’19 was born and raised in Honduras, and sometimes she feels the distance between Chicagoland and home. However, she’s found her Wheaton College family in Gospel Choir. As president of Gospel Choir, she sings soprano. “Singing through trouble, singing through busyness, singing through so many things has been uplifting and restoring,” she says.

Manager of the Language Learning Center and a Spanish conversation assistant since her freshman year, Sara loves languages. Spanish is her first language, but she learned English at a young age. She also studied Greek, which became one of her favorite classes at Wheaton. “Dr. [Doug] Penney ’78 is real, and he makes Greek so much fun,” she says, noting that he is one of the few people who can “get my crazy laugh out.”

A first-generation college student, Sara has crafted a one-of-a-kind major through Wheaton’s interdisciplinary studies program, with an eye toward working with women who have survived sexual abuse. She focuses on “how storytelling can be an aid in the healing process.” Sara plans on taking time after graduation to gain relevant work experience and to consider what she might study in graduate school.

HOMETOWN: EL PORVENIR, HONDURAS

MAJOR: INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES (SOCIOLOGY/PSYCHOLOGY/WRITING)

EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES: GOSPEL CHOIR, MANAGER OF THE LANGUAGE LEARNING CENTER, SPANISH CONVERSATION ASSISTANT

FUN FACT: SARA HAS NEVER BROKEN A BONE